


A Christmas (Tree) to Remember

by thecomebackkids99



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Decorating, F/M, Fluff, Hot Chocolate, Sappy conversations involving Floyd Lawton, Talks about the ONE, christmas trees
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 14:39:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13125780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecomebackkids99/pseuds/thecomebackkids99
Summary: Oliver, Felicity, and William's first time Christmas tree shopping together doesn't go as planned. Involves hot cocoa, a discussion about true love, and a bent tree stand. (Based on a true story.)





	A Christmas (Tree) to Remember

The team was broken. Dinah, Curtis, and Rene were gone, the original group wasn’t sure what to do. It was exhausting, frustrating, and, though, he’d never admit it, a little terrifiying. But it didn’t matter today. He refused to let it matter today.

Because they were getting their Christmas tree.

Oliver leaned against the counter, William near him at the table, tapping his fingers on the wood. They were both ready, and just waiting for the one Queen who couldn’t move fast unless Slade Wilson was holding her kidnapped. Amongst other things. “Bud, go yell at the door again.”

“I did that last time.”

“I know. But do it one more time.” Because Felicity was less likely to start yelling at William than she was if Oliver went and told her to hurry up.

William rolled his eyes as he stood. “You just don’t want to get her angry.”

“Don’t worry! I’m here!” The door flew open and she stepped out, wearing exactly the same outfit she went into the bathroom in. Oliver pursed his lips together to hide his laugh when William yelled, “You’re wearing the same outfit!”

“I am. What’s the problem with that?”

“You spent an hour in there. To end up in the same thing?”

“Oh.” Felicity let out a laugh and put her arm around William’s shoulder. “Let me tell you about girls. Not all of them, because some of them can shower, dry their hair, and look cute in less than ten minutes. I could only do that if I were the Flash. Which I’m definitely not. But we should go.” She looked over William at Oliver, a smile on her face. They talked about this last night. No matter how sucky their professional lives were at the moment, they needed to put it all aside and have some fun with William, who couldn’t stop talking about getting a tree. Nothing else mattered today.

“Alright guys, let’s go.” Oliver grabbed the keys and his phone, on silent, because the entire Mayor’s office knew that he was taking the day off and _how dare anyone contact him today_. Lance’s words, not his, but they were accepted gratefully. “We waited long enough.”

“Is that a dig at me?” When he didn’t respond, Felicity sighed. “It’s totally a dig at me.”

“An hour, Felicity?”

“Next time I’ll take two just to make you extra annoyed.”

William cleared his throat. “Are you guys…fighting?”

“Oh!” Felicity looped her arm around Oliver’s waist. “No. We’re not fighting. This is nothing compared to some of the things we’ve fought about. There was that time—”

Oliver whispered, “William doesn’t need to hear about that time.”

“What’d you just say about me not hearing something?” His son had his hearing, which was irritating. The kid could hear whispered words from the other room, or catch if Oliver was trying to practice the video games. Even if he didn’t have the sound on, though he found out last night that William had all the game things connected so he knew if one was being used. That whole ordeal screwed with him for a couple weeks.

“Adult stuff.” Felicity answered for him with a wink. “But today we’re not being adults and we’re going to drink hot chocolate and cut Christmas trees down.”

“Lots of adults do that.”

Oliver chuckled when Felicity sputtered after William shot back at her. His son gave them both a run for their money at times. He’d grown accustomed to super villains, lawyers with their reasons for his guilt, and plenty of cops. That he could deal with without breaking a sweat. But an eleven-year-old boy who looked like the younger version of him? That caused him to lay awake at night, Felicity snoring against his chest, worrying about everything that pertained to William.

Good thing his son could handle it better than all of them.

“Let’s just get to the tree farm without an argument between you two, okay?” Oliver slipped his arm around Felicity’s waist and drew her closer, as she’d drifted away from him as they walked towards the car. He needed her right next to him. Always. She gently punched his arm, but laughed with him and William most of the way to the tree farm. The only time the giggling between his son and his wife quieted was when William let out a quiet sigh and whispered, “I wish Mom was here.”

He was thankful they were at a stop light, because he needed a moment to close his eyes and wish that he could’ve saved her. He should’ve been able to keep her safe. If he had, William would still have a mom. Felicity was here; so was Raisa, but they never took the place of a mom. He knew that too well.

The only thing that stopped a spiral into grumpiness and sadness was Felicity sliding her hand into his. The look she gave him said a multitude of things, but one thing stood out the most. He couldn’t blame himself. Not for this one, at least.

William cheered up a few minutes later when they pulled into the parking lot. “I can’t wait to get the tree.” He rubbed his hands together. “It’s gonna be amazing.”

That brought a thought to his head that should’ve been there sooner. “Crap.” He’d worked on his swearing a lot since William moved in with him, and it had improved. Though this situation almost required a swear word. “We have a problem.”

“An arrow problem or a ‘our car just died’ problem? Which would be impossible because the car was still running when you said that.”

“I forgot to measure the ceiling.”

“Big deal.” Felicity shrugged. “An average ceiling is nine feet. Ours is probably a little taller.”

“Yeah, but it’s never that simple.” He should’ve remembered to do that. Any decent dad would. Any normal male taking his wife and son to a tree farm would do that so they didn’t have to get multiple trees. Oliver muttered a swear word under his breath as he climbed out. William heard it.

“It’s not that bad, Dad.”

Leave it to William to correct him on his swearing. But Oliver smiled anyways. He would never get used to being called ‘Dad’. After six months of struggling to get by, he’d finally gotten to that point where William loved and trusted him enough. And he was right this time: there were worse things. Like Caden James and Black Siren running wild somewhere. He wasn’t gonna let it bother him today. _C_ _’_ _mon, Oliver_. “You’re right, buddy. It’s not that bad.” He ruffled his hair, getting a grin out of him. “Let’s go find a tree, huh?”

“We need hot chocolate first,” Felicity said, walking ahead of them a couple yards. “We can take it out on the tree ride.”

“But then we might spill it on the hay ride,” William counteracted, but Felicity insisted on it. His son looked at him with eyes that said ‘so do we listen or do we not’, but Oliver shrugged.

“It’ll be fun. Hay rides aren’t rides on the Waverider.”

“What’s the Waverider?”

“You get to hear about that on your sixteenth birthday.”

“That’s when you said I could start looking at girls.”

True. “No, I changed that. Eighteenth birthday.”

Felicity tossed over her shoulder, “Last thing your dad wants is for you to turn out like him. So expect lots of rules.”

“Well, I don’t like alcohol.”

Which was good, but also concerning. Oliver squinted at William, who grinned. He knew how to make him panicky. “When did you have alcohol?”

“At the toast. At your wedding thingy. Aunt Thea let me have a glass. A little tiny glass.” He made a reference to a shot glass with his fingers. Except he probably didn’t know what kind of glass his aunt gave him to sip the champagne from. Oliver let William bounce ahead to find the hot chocolate, and grabbed his wife again.

“Are you staking your claim on me?”

“Nope.” His hand rubbed the small of her back, and then he smiled. “I did that when I said yes.”

“True. But…” Felicity looked around the store, likely taking stock of the young men that loitered around. “There’s a decent amount of cuties here. That I _don_ _’_ _t_ have my eye on, because you’re the only cutie I need.”

“That is…” he let out a breathy laugh. He never would’ve thought that he would be here. At a Christmas farm, with his arm around _his wife_. And she was being sappy. “That is so sappy, Felicity.”

“You make me sappy. I can’t help it.”

“Hey, guys!” William waved his hand to get them to move faster. “Found the hot chocolate for you, Felicity!”

She let go of him with a squeal and ran down the hall to the room with the treats. Oliver followed at a slower pace. First, he needed to figure out how tall their ceiling was. The Mayor wasn’t going to show up and not know what height he needed his tree. Second, he needed to walk into that room and look at his wife and son.

When he was a kid, his dad used to walk in and watch the family. Oliver always noticed him, and broke the silence by yelling for him to come play. Now, he understood what his dad wanted to do. Take a moment of quiet, without anyone noticing, and just _look_. 

Felicity and William stood in line to get their hot chocolate, giggling. His son threw his head back and let out a laugh that echoed throughout the room. They grabbed cups, one extra from him, and William turned towards one of the tables. Felicity spun towards him, caught his gaze, and waved. Then she went to William.

Oliver leaned against the wall and watched the miracle that was his life. _Talk about being sappy, Queen_. But it was true. He knew more than even Felicity that he shouldn’t be here. He should’ve died over ten years ago. He should’ve died even before he got on the Gambit. No woman should want to be married to him. His son shouldn’t even like him, let alone call him ‘Dad’. But somehow, this all happened.

Call it a Christmas miracle or whatever else, but it _was_ a miracle. That was the only reason he stood here today.

“Hey, Dad! Come over and drink hot chocolate with us.”

He’d been noticed. And someday William would feel the same way that he did now. Oliver dropped to the bench next to Felicity and took the cup of hot chocolate she offered him. “Thanks for getting me some.”

“You’re welcome. But make sure you maintain those juicy abs of yours. _Oh_!”

Oliver choked on his drink when Felicity covered her mouth, her eyes wide. William’s eyebrows shot up. Several feet from them, an old lady giggled. What a sight they were. The Mayor’s family sitting here, sputtering over a strange sentence that only Felicity could say. And maybe Cisco, but the after affect was filled with annoyance.

This one was filled with love.

And giggles.

“And with that,” Felicity stood up and tapped her fingers on the table, “let’s go get our tree. But I’m getting more hot chocolate before we go.”

When she left, William leaned in closer and whispered, “She’s a little strange.”

Oliver chuckled and messed with his son’s hair. “She is, but it’s a good strange, right?”

“I agree.”

                                                            *******

Felicity accepted Oliver’s offered hand and hopped onto the wagon that would take them out to the trees. “Thank you, husband.” She liked using that as much as possible. It was a special word that she never dreamed of getting to use. Mostly because she was pretty sure she’d die alone for quite a while. Then Oliver came along, and she spent six years going back and forth between ‘I hate you’ and ‘I adore you’. Then there was a middle ground called ‘let’s just get married’. Which is what they did a few weeks ago.

She still hadn’t regretted it.

Besides when telling her mother. Her dad was thrilled; her mom was screaming about not being invited.

A guy dressed in Carhart pants and jacket walked over to them, carrying a saw. “Whatcha gettin’?”

“What kind of tree?” Oliver’s face flashed a mild amount of panic. Felicity’s brain went black. Neither of them had gone tree shopping in years. They talked about it last night in bed. She got a fake Christmas tree in her apartment in college. Oliver helped Thea lug one into the Loft, but she picked it out.

“Frack.”

“We’d like to pick out a Fraser.” William spoke up, shooting them looks of approval. They couldn’t say it was the wrong pick, since neither of them knew the difference between anything. “Is that okay?”

The guy chuckled. “Son, that works out great. We got a ton of those. Hang on tight and I’ll drive you out there.”

When he left, Felicity let out a long breath and giggled. “Clearly we don’t really know what we’re doing.” She nudged William, who sat between them looking proud. “Good thing we brought you along. I would’ve had to pull out my phone to figure it out. Which wouldn’t look good.” She side-eyed Oliver, who looked like someone just broke his precious bow. “You okay, hon?”

“I’m fine.” He straightened his shoulders, which helped squash the whole ‘defeated’ look. “Just thinking.”

His ‘just thinking’ was feeling bad that he didn’t know what kind of tree to get. Or that he hadn’t done this sooner with William. And lots of other stuff.

She should’ve gone to school to be a counselor. “Oliver…honey…”

He flashed her a smile. “I’m oaky, hon. I promise.”

“Good, because—” The tractor jerked forward, which spilled her hot chocolate all over her coat. “ _Frack_!”

“Told ya so.”

“Be quiet, William.” She wasn’t that heartbroken—there was a reason she wore her not-so-nice coat today—but moaning and groaning about her something silly often made him laugh more. And she loved hearing him laugh. “This is a disaster. I can’t be seen out in public like this. I can see it now.” She exaggerated a moan as she swiped some of the errant liquid off her coat. “‘Mayor Queen’s wife spills hot chocolate all over herself after she refuses to listen to her son’.” _Double frack_. What was with her today? “And by that I mean…” she didn’t know what she meant by that. “I didn’t mean it like—”

A grin lit up William’s eyes. They were sad, but it held a glimmer of hope. His expression was one that Oliver gave her a hundred times in the past six years. It was one that always led to something special. He scooted a little closer to her. “You married my dad. So that kind of makes you my other mom. _Mom_ will always be my real one, but since she’s not here anymore…” he sniffed. “I would like you to be here for me like she was.”

Her heart did something fluttery. Probably like what it would do when she laid eyes on her and Oliver’s first baby. This was _almost_ the same thing. William wasn’t hers. But if they both declared that fact, then it was true. With his permission, she could be a mom to him. As best as she could.

“And don’t cry.”

“I’m not crying.”

William squinted at her. “You said Dad was the worse liar.”

“I did?”

“You did?” Oliver sent her a glare that turned into a teasing smile that reminded her of all the times they’d both done some…covering up. “That’s not fair.”

“I guess that if I were being honest, it’s probably a tie.”

The tractor slowed to a stop and let them off. Felicity and Oliver told William to pick out the tree, so they followed behind him at a slower pace, hand in hand. She paid more attention to the ground than to Oliver for a few moments before he stopped them.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine. Just don’t want to fall.” It was stupid, but after the months of being paralyzed and having way too many accidents, she hated falling. Any time her foot slipped or twisted, it took her back to when she wanted to shower and Oliver wasn’t home. And she fell. Then the time that she tried to reach something on the top shelf of the fridge which meant she needed another few inches in height. And she fell.

Then there was the night they were trapped in the bunker. Oliver hurt, her legs unable to move. The ‘what ifs’ of those hours kept her up at night sometimes. They were so close to never even having this conversation.

The lightbulb went on, and Oliver nodded. “I get it.” He let go of her hand, bent down, and swooped her up. She let out a shriek and threw her arms around his neck. William came running, nearly wiped out on a piece of ice, and came to a screeching halt next to them, breathless.

“Felicity, are you okay?”

“I’m okay, bud, don’t worry.” She patted Oliver’s shoulder in a ‘let me down’ move. But he didn’t budge. “I just don’t like snow.”

“You’re a terrible liar.”

“That is true. And I’ll tell you all about this when we get home. For now, let’s find a tree. Go horsey.”

Oliver grunted, then started walking. His arms cradled her close to his chest in a move that he often did when they laid in bed. He liked her close to him. She knew that, and took advantage of it as much as possible. Because why not? Her mom was right. There weren’t that many men out there that were this attractive and had cooking skills. And who had biceps the size of Hercules’.

“How about this one?” William pointed to a tree that had to be over nine feet tall. But it was gorgeous.

Felicity patted Oliver’s chest. “It’s almost as attractive as you.”

“I’m honored. Because it is pretty.”

“And your dad has never used that term before, so this tree should feel very proud.” Felicity reached out and touched one of the frilly branches. “It’s a strong one. And it looks like we might be going with the first crush.” That caused a giggle from William.

Oliver walked them both around the tree to examine all the sides. Felicity pointed out a couple fatal flaws with it. The branches didn’t start for a foot or so, and they didn’t look great down there. And there was a giant gap that couldn’t be hid since they didn’t have a nice corner to put the tree in.

“Okay, first boyfriend isn’t gonna work out.” When Oliver shot her a look, she shrugged. “What? I think it progressed from first crush to first boyfriend before we broke up.” With that, she winked. He rolled his eyes.

They spent another five minutes looking around until William let out a shout. “Found it! This one’s perfect!” Oliver practically ran down the rows of trees, nearly slipping on a patch of ice. Like son like father. Felicity hung on for dear life until they came to a stop. She whistled after she skimmed it over.

“What a gorgeous tree.”

“And it looks good all over!” William bounced up and down, his excitement flowing over to the adults. Felicity looked up at her husband, who was already looking at her. The look was one of love, sure. But also one of happiness. Oliver had seen pain more, but she did too. She’d seen it in the man holding her right now. Way too much. But seeing William jumping up and down about a giant, fluffy, gorgeous tree brought tears to her eyes. Seven months ago, this boy lost his mom. He was transported into a strange world that involved his dad being a superhero.

And right now, he was shouting about a Christmas tree.

“Looks like it’s gonna be the second boyfriend.” Oliver winked at her as he lowered her to the ground. “Bud, do you want to saw it down?”

“Nope.” William passed the saw to him. “I’ll do it next year. Plus, I gotta watch you do it first.”

“Alright, alright. But you need to hold the boughs up.” Oliver slid underneath the tree, and in two minutes, Felicity and William caught it when he shouted timber. She looked at the kid standing next to her and winced. His arms reached way above hers. He even had some muscle.

“I think you’re taller than me.”

“I am.” His voice was proud. Proud enough that if he had a social media account, he’d brag about it on there. Which was a good reminder to check up on those accounts sometime soon.

Oliver hauled it back to the wagon, and they rode back with the way-too-big tree. While the tree men were wrapping it up, Felicity brought William back into the store. “Let’s get your dad some really sappy gift that he’ll say he hates but keeps for the rest of his life.”

“How about a stuffed snowman?”

“Not stupid enough.”

They ended up buying him an ornament with three snowmen. A daddy, mommy, and little baby snowman. A sappy thing that Oliver would pretend to hate but actually adore. Felicity hid it in her purse just as he came in and said the tree was up on the car. “Good thing we didn’t bring the porsche. That thing is huge.”

“Is it gonna fit in the house?” William had a cup of hot chocolate in one hand and cider in the other. Under his arm, he squeezed a bag of popcorn. Oliver took account of all the sugar his son had before responding.

“I have no idea. But we’ll figure it out. Ready to go home?” Oliver grabbed Felicity’s hand and then snatched a handful of popcorn from William’s bag. “Thanks, bud.” They listened to Christmas songs the whole way home, checking multiple times to make the tree was still on top of the car. Oliver was right. The thing was ginormous.

And it was worse getting it into the apartment. They all helped, some to lesser degrees, since she got sliced with a branch and Oliver ordered her to sit down until the bleeding stopped. William stepped up to the plate and helped his dad pull, drag, and push the tree into the living room.

“How are we gonna get it up?” William stared at it, arms crossed. A mirror image of his father. Felicity laughed whenever it happened. And it did a lot. “Let alone get the angel on top?”

“Like I’ve lived life for the past thirty-two years.” Oliver grinned as he reached for the tree stand sitting on the couch. “ _Somehow_. Thankfully, I now have you two to help me, so it should go a lot easier. Hon, you wanna help me with this?”

“Are you sure you shouldn’t call Dig?”

“Who’s Dig?”

“John—”

“Mr. Diggle.”

“Oh. Him. You call him Dig?”

“In non-stressful, non-life-threatening situations.” Which was mostly true. “But are you sure you shouldn’t call him?”

“Naw.” Oliver was on the ground, getting the tree stand lined up properly. “I believe in you.”

“Hopefully we can pull this thing together like we’ve done the times either of us have said that.” She kept her boots with the bit of heel on so she could be just a tiny bit taller for this job. “Thank God I’ve been working out lately.”

Oliver stood up at that moment and leaned in close to whisper, “I’ve noticed.”

For the love of all of humanity, she hoped that William didn’t notice the heat that rose from her toes all the way to her cheeks. But the way the words were whispered with that husky voice of his, his unshaven cheek brushing against her ear…boy, she loved this man. “We’d better get this tree up.”

Her husband got the tough job, and she did the part of making sure the trunk got into the tree stand. William helped at the last part to make sure the tree stood up perfectly straight. But as soon as Felicity tightened up the sides of the tree stand and Oliver let go of it, the whole thing almost tipped over.

“You have got to be kidding me.” After her near death by being crushed by a Christmas tree, Felicity crawled underneath again to take a look at the tree stand. “Oliver, the tree stand’s bent.”

“That’s not possible.”

“Well, it happened.”

He squatted down to check on it because no way would he trust her about this kind of stuff and sent a glare with the power to kill Supergirl at the stand. “That’s ridiculous.” But he didn’t swear. One of the effects of having an eleven-year-old in the house. “But I can fix it.”

“Do you have a welding machine?”

His eyes squinted. “I don’t need one of those. Just a hammer.”

But they had to take the tree out of it again. When Oliver left to pound the crap out of the tree stand, Felicity turned on a Hallmark Christmas movie. “These are the best movies _ever_.”

“They’re stupid.”

 _No way_. “Whaaat?” She spun around to William who looked serious. “No. You can’t dislike these movies.”

He shrugged.

“Have you ever actually…watched a Hallmark movie?”

“Yeah. Mom used to watch them on Christmas. And then she’d get really sad.”

 _I_ _’_ _m with ya, Samantha_. She got both of them, actually. “I know the feeling. Your mom was sad about how her life was compared to those, huh?”

“Probably. But I don’t know adults. So I don’t know how that works.” He shrugged again. “But they made her cry, and she didn’t cry very often. So they’re stupid.”

Part of her wanted to change his mind right there, because she had the words to do so. But instead, she turned off the TV and wrapped William in a hug. “I understand. And it’s okay. When my dad left when I was seven, I didn’t sleep in my room for six months. I had so many good memories in there with him. We’d sit on the bed and talk for hours. And so that made me really, really sad.”

“So you get why I don’t like doing some stuff?”

“More than anyone. Oliver does too.” She could hear him walking down the hall, so she lowered her voice to bring up the dramaticness. “He just doesn’t want to admit it.”

The door opened, and her husband walked in. _Limped_ in.

“What the heck happened to you?”

Oliver rolled his eyes and tossed the tree stand to the ground. “I hit my knee with the hammer.”

 _Do not laugh. Do not laugh_. She pursed her lips together and kept a straight face, even when he looked at her with irritation. But when she side-eyed William, who glanced at her with wide eyes, the air she was holding came out in a howl of laughter. The one who caused her to laugh started giggling.

“That’s enough you two,” Oliver practically growled. “This is not funny.”

“Sorry!” Felicity bit her lip, but that made it worse. “I’m sorry. But…”

“But it’s kinda funny to imagine the Green Arrow hitting his knee with a hammer.”

There. The cute little boy finished the sentence off for her. Oliver kept a surly look on his face as they put the tree back in the stand. It got worse when the tree nearly fell again after tightening it in. The Christmas tree putting-up went from nice and easy to more difficult to defeat than Damien Darhk.

Why did it have to be so heavy?

“Hey, Dad, I have an idea.” William hopped off the chair and pointed the wall behind the tree that Oliver was holding up. “How about we drill a hook up there and tie the tree to the wall?”

“Well, if you need any more proof that that is your son…”

“That’ll work.” The response was less growly than it would’ve been two minutes ago. Oliver caught Felicity’s gaze. “Can you hold this up while I get some tools for this?” His voice softened back to sweet, husbandly, fatherly Oliver Queen. “I still believe in you, for the record.”

“And for the record,” she stepped up on her tippy-toes to give him a kiss, “I still believe in _you_. And if we can defeat Damien Darhk and Malcolm Merlyn, we can defeat this pain in the…butt tree.”

An hour later, after two or three loud swear words from Oliver as he struggled to drill the hook into the wall and get the wire around the tree and up to the hook, and once from Felicity when she nearly got taken out by the tree when William cut the ropes off of it, they were done. Not with decorating, which hopefully would take a lot less sweat and muttered swear words, but now they stood a few feet away, examining it.

“Mom and Dad would be pretty impressed. For the most part.” Oliver smiled. She could tell when he went back, and that smile wasn’t just about right now. He was remembering all the happy Christmases he had with his parents and Thea. “Mom was obsessed with getting the perfect tree. She wanted it to stand up straight, be plush, and be able to hold those lights like…” he chuckled and cocked his head. “If you tip your head to the right, our tree stands up perfectly straight.”

“But it’s perfect.” William nodded a few times to confirm it. “Mom and I always got a little tree. Kinda because we never had anyone big enough to get us a huge one, but also because we didn’t have a tall ceiling. But this one is epic.”

Felicity didn’t say anything. She was just standing there, in between them, relishing in the peace of it all. Snow fell outside like in one of those Christmas movies. There were a lot of Christmases that didn’t end happy. One year was spent mourning her father. One was spent mourning Cooper. Oliver. Then the shooting. Then Billy. So many times she looked at anything Christmas and wanted to cry instead of smile.

Until this year.

She had a strong, sexy, and sweet husband who she somehow hadn’t scared off yet, and she had a boy, just a little shorter than her if she wore heels, kind, sweet, and precious. He was broken. Just like her. Just like Oliver. But he was that third member of the family that they needed.

 

After some fun marital action that night in bed, a strange thought hit her harder than that time she got hit in the head with a baseball. The last time she entertained the idea of playing sports. “Hey, Oliver. I just thought of something.”

“Don’t tell me it’s about how you want to cuddle underneath the stars.”

“No. But thanks for putting that idea in my head.” She hopped up onto her elbow so she could look at him. “Remember that joke about the first crush?”

“Yep.”

“And how it looked perfect, but then up closer not so?”

“Also yes.”

“And then how we found the second tree?”

“Felicity.” Oliver sat up a bit and shot her one of his ‘seriously’ looks. “What’s the point?”

“It’s like us.” He still wasn’t following, judging by his lost face. “I had Cooper. He was great, and kind, and wonderful. At least it seemed. Then I got up closer and saw the giant gaps that never would’ve worked for us.” Now he was figuring it out. “Then I found you. Gorgeous, stoic, strong, and special.”

“But I’m not perfect.”

“Nope. You’re not. You’re a little crooked, and you’re definitely really heavy. Even if it _is_ all muscle.” She dropped back down to her back and scooted closer to him. “That’s me. That’s us. We both had our first loves, and maybe our seconds too, but then we found each other. And we’re not perfect. But in a house of love, which we have, we _are_ perfect.”

Oliver closed his eyes and smiled. She reached up and played with his hair for a few moments before he spoke. “Y’know, Felicity…Floyd Lawton nearly killed me.”

“What?” She jerked up, all the way up to sitting position. “He _did_?”

“Yeah. He shot me, and it was laced that curare. I didn’t realize it until I started getting dizzy down in the lair. I had some of my herbs, but that was the only reason I didn’t die right there.”

“I don’t think I needed to know about that.” They’d gone through plenty together, but hearing about the other near-death situations made her stomach churn. “Seriously.”

“There’s a point.” He started fingering her wedding ring. When she wore rings in the past, she always took them off before getting into bed. But this one stayed on. “He nearly killed me, but then he inadvertently saved my life too.” His arm curled around her back which brought her down next to him again. The kiss he gave her brought them closer together, but when he pulled away to get a breath, he smiled, then whispered, “I know it’s a few days to go, but merry Christmas, Felicity Queen.”

She’d called him ‘Mr. Queen’ too many times in the past, so she returned with her favorite new word. “Merry Christmas, husband.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this fic that's filled with way too much tooth-rotting fluff. Now I'm going back to my regularly scheduled angst. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!


End file.
